The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) announced an enterprise cloud services agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will make AWS artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services available to state employees over the next three years at a lower cost.
The agreement will make AWS services available to employees at participating agencies and is intended to alleviate procurement hurdles, speed statewide innovation efforts, and provide technology and training tools to the state workforce, according to the press release.
The state said the AWS agreement is part of a broader enterprise agreement strategy that has generated $58 million in cost savings for New York and its taxpayers.
The release did not specify the value of the new AWS agreement or list participating agencies.
New York State Chief Information Officer and ITS Director Dru Rai said the agreement supports the agency’s effort to serve as a centralized technology provider for state agencies while expanding its service offerings.
“At ITS, we are committed to providing high-quality technology solutions in the most simple, streamlined, and affordable way possible,” Rai said. “I thank AWS for being a trusted partner in our ongoing efforts to upskill the state workforce and assist agencies in delivering for New York, while ensuring our residents get the services they need and deserve in a timely manner.”
The agreement comes as ITS is in the final stages of shifting to a Dedicated Agency service model, which pairs agency subject matter experts with higher-level technology support from ITS. The state said the model has improved the health of priority technology projects and reduced unresolved incidents and requests year over year.
The state said the AWS agreement and similar enterprise agreements preserve the on-premises data center at the Zero Energy Technology building at the Albany Nanotech Complex in Albany while helping ITS create a hybrid and more diverse technology environment.
State officials said the hybrid approach is intended to better protect the state and position ITS to drive new statewide solutions.
Going forward, the state said it expects to continue reducing costs by consolidating individual agency contracts with AWS and pursuing additional enterprise agreements.
The setup is also expected to speed onboarding for agencies and employees using new tools and enhanced capabilities.
